


One of the Boys

by Lanthano



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-27
Updated: 2016-06-27
Packaged: 2018-07-18 13:22:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7316905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lanthano/pseuds/Lanthano
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of Pidge's confession, Lance begins to act oddly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pidge is Pidge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set during episode 5.

"Now let's launch this Castle-ship!" Pidge exclaims as she starts to jog towards the exit of the dining hall. The others turn to leave as well, and behind her she can hear Lance expressing further confusion.  
Outside in the hallway, Allura stops the paladins. "I believe you should change before takeoff, in case we have need of the lions on arrival."  
Shiro nods, "right, we'll go get our gear. Come on Lance, get a move on," he yells at the boy who is still standing in the dining room. "Let's get ready guys."  
They don't wait for Lance as they rush towards their quarters, though they can hear him not far behind them.  
"Last one changed is a rotten egg." Pidge yells as she ducks into her room, feeling light and excited.  
She peels her over-sized sweatshirt off over her head, and keeps her undershirt on as she pulls on the dense black top of her under armor. She shuffles out of her shorts and struggles into the black leggings they all wear, wondering how the others manage to pull theirs on, given their significantly larger sizes. The material reminds her of the cumbersome woolen tights her mother would sometimes insist on. Once she's got the full suit on she begins fitting the pieces of white armor over her suit, clicking them into place efficiently, and is almost done when she hears knocking at her door.  
"Come in," she yells as she struggles with her left boot, which always gives her trouble. She knows it's Hunk before her door slides open to reveal him in full armor, his helmet tucked under one arm. He always knocks, and despite his size, he's always dressed before her.  
He comes into the room and chuckles as she struggles to get her boot to snap into the bottom of her ankle panel.  
"Still giving you problems?"  
"Yeah, I don't know what is wrong with this damn thing, I'm thinking of sanding down the outer edges. There must be a reason it jams," Pidge replies, leaning to press all of her weight down onto her left knee.  
Hunk strides towards her without a word and bends down to place his hands on either side of her knee so he can bear his weight onto it as well, and at that there is a loud click, as her boot joint finally snaps into place.  
"Thanks," she says gratefully as Hunk stands and turns back towards the door, "I can never get it without you."  
"Happy to help," he replies, and it dawns on Pidge as they move towards the hallway that her boot is the reason Hunk always comes to her room once he's done getting his gear on. She'd thought nothing of it before, since Hunk frequently stopped by her room to chat. They spent a lot of their downtime there, or in the workshop she'd set up in the green lion's hangar, discussing engineering and technology, at least until Lance inevitably made an appearance, complaining about being bored and insisting they talked about something he understood. Hunk always indulged him. Lance never knocked.  
In the hallway Keith and Shiro are emerging, holding their helmets under their arms as well, and they all turn to look at Lance's closed door.  
"Lance is a rotten egg." Keith announces coolly, and Shiro frowns before gesturing that they'll wait for him. A moment later he emerges fully dressed, his helmet already on his head, looking a little distracted.  
"Ready?" Shiro asks, and Lance nods absentmindedly.  
They set off towards the bridge, Pidge and Hunk leading the way.  
"So," Hunk begins, a serious look on his face, "we all know Gunderson isn't your actual last name, but is Pidge fake too? Was it all a lie?"  
Pidge's eyes widen in alarm, horrified that her friend might consider this a betrayal, when she registers the wide grin that now lights up his face. Hunk chuckles as she rolls her eyes, and she wonders how long he'd suspected.  
"Uh, no, Pidge isn't my 'real' name, but it is an old nickname from when I was a kid. I figured I should use a name I had a habit of responding to for my fake identity." Pidge smiles at Hunk, and his silence is a question on its own. She hesitates momentarily, but can't think of a reason to keep her name a secret now, "My real name is Katie."  
Hunk beams at her, and Keith's voice intrudes from behind them.  
"Why'd you need a fake name?"  
Pidge looks over her shoulder at him, and Keith smiles at her hesitantly, clearly concerned he's prying. She looks around at the group as they continue down a hallway, and realizes everyone, with the exception of Lance who has fallen behind the group again, is listening intently. While they may not care about her gender, she understands their curiosity as to why she went to the trouble of pretending to be a boy. "To find my brother and father. As you guys know, they were captured, and there was more to it than what was reported on the news. I wanted to find out what was going on, whether they wanted to tell us or not. I got caught breaking into the garrison base looking for information about my family, repeatedly, and each time it was harder to get access."  
"You broke into a military base?" Hunk marvels, sounding both alarmed and impressed.  
"Bad ass." Keith grins, and beside him Shiro chuckles softly.  
Pidge continues, "So I figured infiltration was my only option, and decided to pose as a cadet. Just making up some new name didn't seem like enough given how notorious I'd become on site; I was worried I'd be recognized. I guess I could have done any number of things to disguise my identity, but for some reason cutting my hair and ticking M rather than F on a form just seemed easier." Pidge shrugs easily, "Anyway it worked, no one suspected who I was. Except for Hunk it seems."  
Hunk raises his hands out in front of him, as if to ward off any mistaken assumptions about his deductive powers. "Whoa, I wouldn't say that. I had no idea you were on some secret reconnaissance mission. I mean, yeah I figured you might be a girl, but I didn't know for sure. "  
Pidge frowns, "I thought you said you figured."  
Hunk winces. "Yeah, like I knew, but I didn't _know_ know. What I mean is, it's not surprising you're a girl. I mean, you are kind of tiny for a boy." Hunk smiles down at her knowingly, "Lance and I speculated that first month that you were some kind of child prodigy. But then you mentioned how old you were, and that theory was out. I wondered if you might be a girl, and tried to figure out if you'd ever actually said anything to indicate you were a boy, but Lance was adamant you _had_ to be a boy," Hunk says, looking behind him to see if Lance has caught his mocking tone, but Lance is even further behind, "he insisted he would know if you were a girl. He said if I asked you I'd only make you feel bad about how short you were. I thought he was wrong, but then I stopped thinking about it. I mean, you never corrected us, so I figured you either were a boy, or wanted us to think you were."  
Pidge turns to look at Keith, who nods at her, "Yeah, I assumed you were a girl when we met rescuing Shiro. Later, when Lance referred to you as a guy, I actually felt stupid for my assumption." Keith laughs, "turns out Lance was the stupid one."  
Hunk and Pidge laugh at that, and Hunk turns to look at Pidge again as they emerge onto the bridge where Allura and Coran are preparing the ship for takeoff.  
"So the reason I was asking about your name," Hunk explains earnestly, "is, well, should we keep calling you Pidge? Or do you want us to call you Katie now?"  
Pidge is surprised by the question, but finds it sweet that Hunk has thought to ask. He is certainly the most considerate and sensitive of the paladins. From the look on Keith and Shiro's faces it is clear it hadn't occurred to them they would call her anything but Pidge. It hadn't occurred to her either.  
"No, I like Pidge. It's like my paladin nickname. It would be weird if you guys started calling me Katie."  
Hunk looks relieved, "good, I like calling you Pidge."  
"It's official," Shiro says from beside Keith, "Pidge is Pidge."  
"All your names sound silly to me," Coran says from the other side of the room, looking over at Allura, "Doesn't Katie sound like a boy's name to you?"  
Allura shrugs and activates another panel, causing chairs to rise up out of the floor, and several additional control panels to light up. Pidge is so fascinated by the operations of the castle, she watches Allura closely as she finds her seat. Lance is the last onto the bridge, and the last paladin to take a seat. Pidge frowns as she notices his confused expression, but chalks it up to his recent bout in the regeneration pod. He's probably still a bit disoriented.

Pidge's decision to come clean to her teammates about her gender had left her with no regrets as time went on. Unlike she'd feared, it hadn't changed the way anyone thought about her, at least gauging by their behavior. She felt a little foolish, and even a bit guilty, for having expected any less of them.  
In retrospect it wasn't at all surprising most on board already knew. She'd never done much to actively hide her gender, save for a rather unisex haircut and an initial lie to the academy, and by association, her classmates Lance and Hunk. She'd done nothing to deceive the others, other than to fail to correct them when they followed Lance and Hunk's lead. Her classmates were the only ones who might reasonably have felt betrayed. And while Lance was clearly shocked to discover she'd been a girl all along, he hadn't raised the issue again.


	2. Lance just being Lance?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set during episode 8

As they stand at the bottom of a mineshaft, hiding from the creature on the surface, the blue and green paladins are silent. Pidge stares up at the giant blue robot casting a shadow over them both, and wonders why they bothered getting out of their lions. The sounds of the others running filter into her helmet, Hunk's panting the loudest, and she listens as Keith updates what she assumes is a group of Balmerans. She understands the need for them to exit their lions to consult the inhabitants, and supposes Lance, like her, had only rushed out of his lion when he heard Shiro, Keith, and Hunk doing the same. Unlike them, however, there are no Balmerans for her and Lance to speak to. The shaft they occupy, she thinks not far from the others, is narrow, and has almost no support structures along its walls. Perhaps it was an older seam.  
She listens to Hunk try to reassure someone she can't hear over the coms, and frowns at how bad he seems to be at it. His request for backup from Keith on his assertion they can beat the monster they are currently hiding from confirms he isn't being effective.  
"Can we?" Her frown deepens at the sound of Keith's worried reply. _Way to stay positive._ She turns to catch Lance's eye, he's always looking to criticize Keith, and instead catches him staring at her intensely. The sound of Shiro's voice buzzes in her ears, but she doesn't listen closely as she watches Lance tilt his head slowly to one side, his chin clasped in his left hand. It's unnerving, and Lance hasn't realized he's been caught because he isn't staring at her face. Instead he is staring speculatively at her torso, like there's a complex calculus equation he doesn't understand, but hopes to with further study, written on her armor.  
Shiro's voice stops, and Pidge tunes in to hear Hunk thank Shiro, confirming what she would have assumed, that Shiro had delivered a more confident and reassuring speech than Hunk. Pidge waves a hand at Lance to get his attention, and he meets her eyes nonchalantly, lifting his chin in question. Pidge is sure the words 'What's up?' are about to come out of his mouth, but then the ground starts shaking violently, and all thoughts of Lance's bizarre staring leave her mind. Pidge pivots quickly to look at her lion, and hears Hunk's voice over the familiar sound coming from all around them.  
"Do you guys feel that over there?"

Pidge caught Lance staring at her strangely like that from time to time, always looking puzzled, never realizing she'd noticed. It was possible he didn't know he was doing it. When it didn't lead to anything she brushed it off as simply Lance just being Lance, and thought nothing more of it.


	3. That deep down sadness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set sometime after episode 8

Pidge and Hunk were sitting on the floor of her room, leaning against her bunk, going over her plans to modify the green lion. It was getting late, and Keith had already turned in for the night, after exhausting himself on the training deck. Shiro was likely discussing strategy with Allura somewhere. Pidge had no clue where Lance was, which is why she expected him to burst in at any moment, demanding they play cards with him.  
Hunk had been listening attentively, or so it seemed, reclining with his arms resting across the surface of her bunk when he suddenly frowns and sits up, yanking his left arm off of the bed to examine what's in his hand. Pidge, sitting on his right side, watches the motion, puzzled, until she spots the picture she keeps under her pillow in his hand.  
"Hey," Hunk remarks cheerfully, "it's that photo of you and your…" He stops, his mouth hanging open as realization dawns.  
Pidge leans across her large friend to yank the photo out of his hand. "Why're you pulling stuff out from under my pillow. This is private."  
Hunk looks at her excitedly. "I'm so stupid! Of course that isn't a picture you and your identically featured girlfriend," he exclaims, "obviously. I'm so dumb. That's you and your brother isn't it?" Hunk leans over to try and examine the picture in her hand. Pidge glares at him and tucks her arm behind her back.  
"You're the short one, with the long hair right?" Hunk grins triumphantly at her, "wearing the dress!"  
"So?"  
"So how dumb am I?" Hunk laughs, looking pleased for some reason, "that that didn't click until now. I mean, it's so obvious the people in that picture are related. Here, let me see it." He holds his hand out expectantly, as if he hasn't picked up on the fact that Pidge is hiding it behind her back precisely so he can't see it.  
Pidge hesitates, but faced with Hunk's delighted smile feels compelled to go along. "Fine," she huffs, handing it back to him.  
"Yeah," he says, nodding to himself, "these people are clearly related. Same eyes, same nose, same colored hair. Why did I assume this was your girlfriend instead of your littler sister?"  
Pidge shrugs at him.  
"I just saw you and a pretty girl, and somehow girlfriend was my immediate conclusion." Hunk shakes his head, while Pidge starts at his use of the word pretty to describe the girl in the photo. "I think I've been spending too much time with Lance," Hunk speculates, looking to Pidge for confirmation.  
She chuckles, "anytime spent with Lance could be qualified as too much time. He has a way of warping minds."  
Hunk laughs and goes back to examining the photo. "Wow," he says, holding the photo up close to his face, "you look just like your brother." He turns to look at her closely, before scrutinizing the photo again, "especially with those glasses. And your haircut. Did you do that on purpose?"  
Pidge blinks at Hunk in surprise, and snatches the photo back from him to look at it. "Did I?" She looks around the room, but there is no mirror in her quarters. In fact, thinking back, it occurs to Pidge she has never seen a single mirror anywhere on the ship. She wonders how the princess keeps her hair so perfect without a mirror. She wonders why she didn't notice the absence of mirrors sooner. She bets Lance noticed right away.  
She looks back at Hunk in confusion, "I didn't do it on purpose. I mean, these are my glasses, not his. I need them, I'm just wearing contacts in the picture. I used to always wear contacts, because I hated these glasses."  
She pulls them down off her face to examine the frames. They do look like Matt's. How had she not noticed that before?  
She frowns at Hunk, reaching up to feel her short hair. "I didn't do it on purpose. I just cut it short. Is that weird?" She had intended to hide the sudden sadness she felt, but it's there in her voice clear as day.  
Hunk's eyes are wide with regret, and he shakes his head adamantly as he reaches over to grab her shoulder reassuringly.  
"No, no no. It's not weird. I mean, it's just a coincidence. Of course you look like him, he's your brother," he winces, and looks at her with concern. Hunk looks so upset to have upset her, she thinks that if she started crying he would too. The absurdity of that thought cheers her up a bit.  
She smiles at Hunk to reassure him, "I just miss him a lot, you know."  
Hunk nods sympathetically at her, and she wonders if he has siblings. She's never asked Hunk about his family, or even much about himself. Hunk always asks about other people's lives, willing to listen with interest, but he doesn't volunteer much about himself. She has the feeling that unlike her, a naturally guarded and private person, Hunk just doesn't think to talk about himself. Lance on the other hand had told them both about his giant family at length. Her two classmates seem like such polar opposites, she sometimes wonders how their friendship works.  
"What's his name?" Hunk asks, looking back at the picture.  
"Matt," she replies, and despite herself Pidge goes on "he's my best friend. We did everything together. I was so sad I couldn't go with them to Kerberos." She knows she's just making herself sadder by talking about it, but she can't seem to stop. "I should have been with them. I should _be_ with them. I could have done something."  
Hunk hesitantly slides his hand from her shoulder to center of her back, resting between her shoulder blades, and when she doesn't react begins running his hand slowly back and forth, soothingly, in a gesture that suddenly reminds Pidge painfully of her mother. There's a tightness in her chest and it feels difficult to breathe.  
"What if they're already dead? I'm so scared I'll never see them again." she admits in a quiet voice, the terror that's been coiled tightly around her heart for a year given words. She feels an ache in the back of her throat, and burning at the corner of her eyes. She worries what Hunk will think of her if she cries, and if that's enough to stop her from doing it.  
"We’ll find them." Hunk says softly, and when she looks at him his eyes are shiny, and instead of being funny like she'd imagined, it leads her to burst into tears.  
Hunk pulls her into a hug and continues to rub her back as she sobs. The strained wail coming out her seems foreign and alarming, and nothing like what crying should sound like. He repeats soothing phrases to the effect that everything will be fine, and she periodically offers incoherent apologies about her sobbing.  
"This is why I don't like to talk about my private stuff," she finally manages to choke out somewhat resentfully, her crying jag winding down. "I almost never cry," she assures him angrily as tears continue to stream down her face.  
"Really?" Pidge begins to feel indignant about his doubt until he goes on, "I cry all the time."  
Pidge sniffles and pulls back to look at Hunk. "You do?"  
His eyes are still shiny, and he nods at her sadly. "Sure I do. I miss earth so much." He stops and looks at Pidge tenderly, and Pidge realizes Hunk's confession was offered only to comfort her. She wonders who Hunk cries to, and suspects it might be no one.  
She manages to get her breathing under control and sniffles again. She disengages from Hunk, so that they're sitting side by side again, and he imitates her move. She leans back against her bunk and looks sideways at Hunk, "What makes you cry?"  
Hunk seems surprised, but after a minute he answers, looking up at the ceiling as he talks, "I worry we'll never get back. I mean, how long is this going to take? Are we going to spend our lives out here? Do my parents think I'm dead? That's a big one. Do people think I'm dead? Are they sad because of me? The thought that my parents might be suffering, heartbroken thinking I've just disappeared, and I can't even let them know I'm fine. That kills me. I know we're doing something very important here. I know we are saving the universe and everyone in it, and I get it. I get that it's important. But sometimes I wonder why it had to be me. You know?" He glances at her, as if he expects her to cut in, or need more comforting. This strengthens Pidge's resolve, and she clears her throat and wipes away the tears still clinging to her face. She gestures at Hunk to go on.  
"I mean, I get why you and Keith and Lance and Shiro are here. I do. But why am I here? Why do they need me? I'm a coward, and I just wish I could go home."  
Pidge frowns at that, "Hunk, I understand why you wish it wasn’t you. Shiro and I are probably the only ones who actually want to be here, instead of back on earth. But, you have to know why you are here. You aren't a coward. I mean, if there's anyone who I wonder about, it's Lance."  
Hunk looks at her like she's crazy, "Lance is brave."  
Pidge blinks, and realizes Lance might look very different from Hunk's perspective. She waves that line of thought away.  
"I'm glad you're here Hunk, as selfish as that may be. You are smart, and you are honestly the most selfless person I know. You seriously have made this bearable for me. And I know Lance must feel that way too."  
Hunk blushes, and Pidge realizes he must not be used to hearing compliments. He's too damn giving. She grins conspiratorially at him, "does Lance cry too?"  
Hunk smiles at her hesitantly, "I couldn't say."  
"He does!"  
Hunk laughs, "I didn't say that."  
"But you want to." Hunk shakes his head resolutely, and Pidge changes tactic, "Do you think Keith cries?"  
Hunk laughs at that, "Statistically speaking he must have at some point, but I can't imagine it."  
"Neither can I. I feel like Keith is too busy giving the world the silent treatment to cry."  
Hunk laughs, "Or like his version of crying is just more fighting."  
Pidge frowns, "oh wow, that's a bleak thought."  
"What do you mean?"  
"He's in the training room running combat drills every night Hunk."  
Hunk thinks for a moment and then shrugs, "well I'm probably wrong. He probably does it because fighting is cool. Or something. I honestly can't get read on that guy."  
"I know," Pidge agrees, "I have no sense of who he is, other than the bane of Lance's existence."  
"You know," Hunk says, lowering his voice a bit, "Lance is still obsessed with the fact that Keith didn't even remember him from the academy. Their whole rivalry was totally unrequited. He's sure Keith was lying to drive him nuts. He brings it up randomly when we're alone."  
"I wonder why he doesn't mention it around me?" she wonders. The three of them are alone together frequently enough.  
Hunk ponders a second before answering, "Maybe he thinks you'd tease him if you knew. Or maybe he doesn't want you to know how petty and insecure he is."  
Pidge smiles at that, "Well you telling me kind of ruins that." Hunk shrugs.  
They sit in silence for a minute, before Pidge asks, "Do you think Shiro cries?"  
Hunk looks aghast at the idea. "He's an adult, I don't even want to think about that."  
"No?"  
"No, he's so strong, and brave, and ripped," Hunk replies, "I can't picture him crying."  
"I can," Pidge explains, "but like, in a manly way you know, like in the movies. Where the hero is incredibly stoic in the face of tragedy, and just a single tear runs down his cheek, just one, so he still looks handsome and dignified." Pidge laughs at the image. "That was always my goal, crying wise."  
"To be manly?"  
Pidge rolls her eyes, "Sure, but I meant stoic more than anything else. I hate that I cry."  
Hunk looks confused, "Why? It's normal. Everybody does it. I always feel better after, don't you?"  
"I guess so," Pidge agrees, "this time." Hunk smiles proudly at that. "I don’t do it enough to be able to draw significant conclusions about its efficacy. Mostly I'm embarrassed I ever don't have complete control over myself."  
Hunk frowns, "That's a bad way to look at it. I think it's the body's way of releasing sadness."  
"Do you think Allura cries?"  
Hunk thinks for a minute, "Maybe, but like, in the way you described from movies. Stoic."  
Pidge nods, "I'm sure she remains dignified and beautiful no matter what."  
"Oh definitely. It's a princess thing."  
Pidge asks, "what about Coran? I can picture him sobbing like a baby over anything."  
Hunk nods, "Yeah, totally."  
"Like Lance." Pidge adds, watching Hunk carefully.  
"Yeah, totally," Hunk nods again and then freezes. "I mean about Coran, not Lance," he adds quickly.  
"Suuure."  
Hunk sighs in defeat, "Yeah, Lance cries too."  
Pidge smiles, "I knew it."  
Hunk shrugs, "But he rarely gets much past misty eyed. I envy Lance, he never stays sad for long. He'll get bummed out, you know, tear up a bit about this or that, and a minute later he's over it." Hunk sighs, "I wish I was like that. Instead I just have this feeling of general sadness. It makes it hard to sleep."  
Pidge had often thought Hunk looked exhausted in the morning. She supposes she knows why now.  
Hunk goes on, "He doesn't get that deep down sadness like you and me."  
"Deep down sadness?" That wasn't an expression she'd ever heard before.  
"Yeah, that deep down sadness."  
She looks up at the ceiling, "I think we all have that deep down sadness on this ship." Pidge thinks about the two Alteans on the ship, who woke up after 10 000 years to find their planet and everyone they knew gone. She thinks about Shiro, who'd spent a year enduring torture at the hands of the Galra, the loss of his arm, and his memories. She thinks about Keith, who radiates a kind of quiet sadness for reasons she can't fathom.  
"Except for Lance," Hunk adds.  
"That might be because Lance doesn't have any depth to him." Pidge speculates.  
Hunks laughs at that and nods, "That may be. But it sure makes him easy to be around. He never stays sad for long. It's honestly really easy to make him feel better. I just need to make him laugh, with some dumb joke. Sometimes, a simple distraction is enough."  
"Yeah, I guess that must be nice." Pidge finds it telling that the ease with which a person can be cheered up is a significant characteristic for Hunk. She supposes his need to take of other people might get exhausting otherwise.  
Hunk laughs harder, "You know one time, back on earth, Lance was super worried about this test. He'd done terribly, and he was in this downward spiral about how he'd never be pilot and he would always be a loser," Hunk stops to laugh for a second, too amused by the rest of his story to continue telling it. Pidge is just surprised to hear Lance isn't always obnoxiously overconfident, "and I, to get him out of it, I, I just," Hunk's laughter interrupts again for a minute, "I pointed over his shoulder and yelled 'boobs'" Hunk loses it again, and Pidge joins him.  
"You yelled 'boobs'?"  
Hunk nods enthusiastically, "yeah I just pointed over his shoulder and yelled 'BOOBS!', and he whipped around to look. Like, 'where? where?' Like he thought there'd just be boobs there, hanging out, just random boobs." Hunk laughs at the idiocy of his friend. "We were in his room and the door was closed. When would boobs have materialized? What woman would have snuck into his room, topless no less, while we talked? He was actually surprised to find there were no boobs. And after he realized there weren't any, he was annoyed with me, for getting his hopes up, but he also forgot why he was sad. Like, he asked, 'what was I talking about?', and I told him, 'how bad you did on that test', and he went, 'ah well, those things aren't actually accurate, let's go see if we can steal some beer from prof Keenan's office.' and just like that he was fine. Not pretending or anything, he really was fine." Hunk smiles fondly, "Lance is honestly the easiest person to comfort in the world."  
"I'll try to be a little easier to comfort in the future." Pidge offers, "but I doubt the boob line would work on me."  
Hunk smiles, "I doubt it would work on anyone but Lance. You don't need to be easier to comfort Pidge. But you should let yourself cry more often. Then you'd be better at it."  
"I didn't know I was bad at crying."  
Hunk looks embarrassed, "No I didn't mean it that way."  
"It’s the sound I make isn't it?" Pidge asks with narrowed eyes.  
Hunk bites his bottom lip anxiously, then nods minutely while he examines his toes.  
"I totally sound like some animal being murdered," Pidge groans, feeling stupid.  
"That's just because you don't have much practice. It's like you have too much sadness waiting to get out. As soon as the door opens it all rushes out, and a bottleneck happens."  
Pidge frowns at Hunk's muddled analogy. "I don't think that's how emotions work."  
Hunk ignores her, "that's why when you do finally cry, it's so violent and uncontrollable, and painful."  
Pidge's throat is sore, and her chest does feel heavy, and her eyes do feel waterlogged and itchy. "Maybe."  
"If you ever need to, you can talk to me Pidge," Hunk offers earnestly.  
"Same to you Hunk," Pidge replies.  
Hunk frowns at her in confusion, and Pidge isn't sure if her sentence was confusing, or if the concept him being the one who needs to talk is confusing. She doesn't get a chance to clarify, as there is a knock at the door.  
"Shiro?" She guesses, glancing at Hunk.  
"Maybe he wants us to get to sleep?" Hunk ventures. Shiro had once or twice reminded them to get some sleep on his way to bed. They both found the impulse amusing.  
"Or he heard me and he wants to know what animal we killed in here." Pidge suggests, feeling embarrassed again.  
"Well then Keith's more likely. Maybe you woke him up."  
Pidge groans and yells, "Come in."  
To their enormous surprise, Lance is in behind the door as it slides open, and he hesitates in the doorway.  
"Lance?" Pidge is so shocked at his behavior that she doesn't greet him as she habitually does, 'Would knocking kill you?!'. Then again he habitually storms in mid complaint or excited proposal for mischief, with no regard for their current activity.  
Lance makes eye contact with Hunk and then strides in, regaining some of the ease he usually displays in other people's space.  
"I'm bored, and I was helping Shiro and Allura plan shit, but then Shiro got all weird, and sent me away, because apparently, they're talking about 'grown up stuff', and don't have time for my 'garbage'." Lance is clearly still smarting from his dismissal. Pidge wonders what he'd done to piss Shiro off so entirely. Their leader was normally much more patient and tactful with team's resident fool. "I think that guy is trying to move in on my lady. I mean really? Trying to subtly bringing up the fact that he's got a few years on me. Is that all he's got? Tch. Allura is an alien, earth numbers don't matter to her."  
"Physical maturity might," Pidge quips, and Lance glares at her and walks over to look down at the equipment laid out in front of them.  
"Whatever, what're you guys up to?"  
"We were just going over my plans to modify the green lion." Pidge explains.  
"Boring." Lance declares, jumping up onto her bunk to sit down above them. Pidge turns to look at him, and he does a double take when he gets a good look at her face. It must be obvious she'd been crying. Lance makes no mention of it, and instead leans forward to grab the photo out of Hunk's hand. "What's that?"  
Hunk dodges his grab, rolling his eyes. "A photo. It's actually a picture of Pidge and her brother." Hunk laughs, "turns out I thought Pidge was her own girlfriend, back when she was pretending to be a boy."  
Lance grunts uninterestedly, leaping up off the bed to head back towards the door. "Come on guys, let's go to something! I say we go find Coran and see if we can mess with him. I bet we can make him think this place is haunted."  
"Nah," Hunk dismisses that plan. He glances sideways at Pidge, a wicked grin on his face, and then waves the photo at Lance. "Don't you wanna see what Pidge looks like in a dress?" Pidge scrambles up to grab the photo out of his hand, but Hunk holds her off handily, while remaining seated on the floor. "She's even got long hair," he crows, laughing.  
Lance sighs, "Well, if you guys are going to be lame, I'll go find something else to do." He's out the door before they can even register his words.  
Hunk stares after him in shock, and then yelps, as Pidge punches him in the ribs, leading him to drop the photo in surprise. She scoops it up and tucks it back under her pillow.  
"That was weird." She observes, sitting down on the edge of her bunk.  
'Right? I mean first, he knocks, then he's like hesitant to come in. And then he doesn't even want to mock your long hair with me!" Pidge leans over to pinch the back of Hunk's neck. He swipes at her lazily, and she dodges.  
"It was weird." she agrees, "he didn't even insist we go with him when he left. I have never seen Lance bail that quick."  
"Yeah," Hunk mutters, stroking his chin thoughtfully. Pidge remembers all the staring Lance has been doing.  
"He's been acting weird for a while now."  
Hunk nods, "Yeah since back before we saved the Balmera." He gasps and tilts his head backward to get better look at Pidge behind him on the bed. "Ever since he got out of the pod!"  
Pidge thinks back, "Yeah, you know, he seemed pretty disoriented at the time."  
"What if that thing messed with his head?"

Pidge later noticed a pattern in Lance's new behavior, one that didn't support their pod theory. Any conversation with even incidental references to her gender, false or otherwise, provoked either immediate interruption by Lance, as he tried to change the subject, or complete silence, as he seemed determined to ignore the interaction entirely. And his new compulsion to knock before entering a room only applied to her room. In all other instance Lance behaved as he always had, including interactions with Pidge, which remained as frequent and friendly as ever.


End file.
